The Whole of the Moon

“The truly imaginative conceit of the novel The Whole of the Moon is not the sweet if powerful gimmick of that single copy of a public library book read by a multiplicity of citizens over a period of forty years of life in the bluest of blue states (one which nonetheless has delivered to the nation Nixon, Reagan and worse).  No, it is the reminder, insistence, imperative that the shared experience of reading that book might be the backdrop or assumption or environment in or upon which is built empathy, civic engagement, and storytelling.” 
—Andrew Tonkovich, Citric Acid

"A single copy of The Great Gatsby begets another novel…Over some 50 years it will be checked out and read by the main characters in this first novel…Infused with subtle, evocative details, each story beautifully, quietly beats on against time's current."
—Kirkus Reviews

“As a fracturing of The Great Gatsby, with its themes of careless wealth, vanity, self-delusion and self-destruction, the novel examines Los Angeles in fragments of stories that feature a wide range of characters to create a composite portrait of a place that's riven with doubt, ambition, hope: deeply American qualities that lead here, as in real life, to disappointment and loss. I kept thinking about this book and its desperate characters long after I had finished it.”
—Charlotte Bacon, author of The Twisted Thread

"Throughout the novel, another connection becomes clear in these seemingly disparate tales: Each of the main characters has checked out the same library copy of The Great Gatsby. Arguably a—if not the—Great American Novel, The Great Gatsby’s universal themes appear in each of these character’s lives. Debut author Brian Rogers splinters and weaves together the book’s themes of vanity and self-delusion in these captivating tales."
—BookPage